Nostalgia & History > A Burlington Route engineer passes away

In my office, I have several railroad related items hanging up. One includes a group of photos of NKP #765 that I took in St Louis back in 2012.

One of our pension reps was in a week ago today and I noticed he was staring at the 765 photos. He asked me about the engine, where I took the shots, etc. We had a nice visit when he asked me out of the blue if I had ever seen CB&Q 5632 painted in gold. I said that I had seen pictures but I was too young to have experienced it in person.

We visited some more when he told me that his dad was an engineer in the Brookfield pool back in the day. Now THAT got my attention. We had a great talk about the Q and my obvious affinity for it. I told him that in the late sixties, I got my first cab ride on a Q local in my hometown of Palmyra Missouri … I was good friends with the agent, Wayne Beever. Through Wayne’s good graces, most of the crews knew me and my good bud Q-GP30 and more often than not, we were able to snag a cab ride whenever a local had to switch Main Street businesses in Palmyra. Said to him my favorite engineer was a gentleman by the name of Dick Mundell. Dick had hired out on the CB&Q as a fireman in 1951 and saw the last of Burlington steam before advancing to engineer.

My favorite story is that one time when they were finished switching Main Street, Dick pulled a quarter out of his pocket and said to John and I ‘call it to see who runs us back’. I won, and under his watchful eyes, I guided the two locomotives back to the head end of the consist. Didn’t bother me that we had to walk about a mile or so back to town. I was king of the hill for the day! Try something like that now …

The gentleman in my office told me the sad news that Dick had passed away, and that his funeral was the day before. I was extremely sorry to hear of his passing and that I was not able to attend services in order to pay my respects to a giant of a man and a danged fine engineer. He was a Q man to the end; the one thing that would get him fired up was to call the railroad the Frisco Northern. As the West Quincy and Brookfield pools were made up most of Burlington Route veterans (at the time), that was a recipe for disaster!

Attached is a photograph of Dick at the throttle on BN 7194 switching Main Street in Palmyra back in 1980 or so. Thank you Dick for taking this young railfan under your wing darn near 50 years ago, you will never be forgotten.

Highball my friend, you have marked up on that celestial extra board. Wishing you nothing but green signals all the way.

Burlington John

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That was a real nice tribute to your friend! Nice shot to go along with the story. My condolences to you and Dick's family. Thanks for sharing.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Thanks for the story. You were a lucky kid. And a high green to your friend.

Marty Bernard

Nice story... RIP Dick....

Sorry to hear of the loss of someone you cared about so much, John. May he rest in peace, and thanks for your story.